Tag Archives: Licensing Guides

Windows Server 2016 Licensing Guide

There’s a brand new (May 2017) Windows Server 2016 Licensing Guide released by Microsoft. It’s a delicious 31 pages of licensing loveliness, but here are our highlights:

  • Core Packs: there’s confirmation of the new 16-core packs on page 7, but an interesting note points out that although the cost of eight 2-packs equals one 16-pack, they may not have the same point count in Volume Licensing programs where this matters – MPSA or Open, for example. There’s also confirmation on page 21 (Q4) that the licences from a multi-pack can be split across servers, they’re not joined forever at purchase point
  • Nano Server: this is a deployment option available only if you have SA on your Windows Server licences, and page 6 confirms that you also need SA on any Windows Server CALs too
  • Core Migration: there’s a lot of guidance on migrating from Processor-based to Core licences and, in particular, there are a couple of pages of FAQs starting on page 26, including what happens with Core licence grants if you have a subscription agreement, and how the grants appear in your licensing portal
  • Standard or Datacenter: there’s a useful table on page 25 which shows the breakeven point for virtual machines running on a 2-processor server which has 8 cores per processor. You’ll find that if you’re running 13 or more virtual machines on this server, then it’s cheaper to license with Datacenter edition

As usual, you can find this Licensing Guide with all of its Licensing Guide family and friends at: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.

Dynamics 365 Enterprise Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (May 2017) Dynamics 365 Enterprise Licensing Guide with two main changes. Firstly, the inclusion of the new Operations Activity USL for those users who are heavy users of Operations but don’t need the use rights of a full user. It’s introduced on page 12 and you can see what rights this USL gives in the tables on page 35 onwards. The other change is the removal of tiered pricing for the Team Members USL with page 24 confirming that it’s now just available for Plan 1 USLs.

Get the guide at the usual place: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.

Dynamics 365 Existing Customer License Transition Guide

There’s a useful “Microsoft Dynamics 365 Existing Customer License Transition Guide” released from Microsoft with information on: options for customers now that CRM Online SKUs are no longer available, how and when you can upgrade to Dynamics 365 with existing CRM Online licences and what use rights you get in a mixed deployment, who’s eligible for the special transition SKUs for how long, and when Add-on and From SA User SLs are the right thing. It’s here with the rest of the excellent Dynamics 365 Licensing Guides: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.

Updated Visual Studio Licensing Guide

There’s an updated Visual Studio Licensing Guide for the release of Visual Studio 2017. There aren’t major changes – just remember that “Visual Studio Enterprise Subscription” is the new name for Visual Studio Enterprise with an MSDN Subscription. As usual, find the guide with all its Licensing Guide friends here: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.

 

CRM Online Licensing and Pricing Guide (July 2016)

There’s an updated (July 2016) CRM Online Licensing and Pricing Guide. The main addition is the CRM Online Project Service Automation Add-On USL (page 12) which provides users with capabilities for setting up a project organisation, engaging with customers, and managing and closing projects. Naturally, as an Add-On, this licence requires users to first be licensed with a CRM Online Basic USL or higher.

As usual, find this Licensing Guide with all its friends here: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.

CRM Online Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (May 2016) CRM Online Licensing Guide with three main changes.

First of all, Mobile Offline is added (page 16): this gives offline views and offline search and is licensed as part of the CRM Online Professional USL as long as you have at least 5 of these USLs.

Then on page 12 there’s the Field Service Add-on: an Add-on USL for users licensed with at least a CRM Online Basic USL who will engage in Field Service activities.

And finally, on page 20 there are some new licences for organisations that want to extend their CRM solutions to cloud hosted web portals. There’s a Portal Add-on USL for any user with an existing CRM Online USL, and then the option to purchase additional page views (500,000 per month) if required.

Get the guide here: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.

APS Licensing Datasheet

Analytics Platform System

 

There’s a new (June 2016) Analytics Platform System Pricing and Licensing datasheet. What’s that in normal English? Well, this is the Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) appliance for data warehouse workloads which runs (keep with me here) SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse edition. Bear in mind that when you acquire one of these appliances it’s pre-built, but you still need to purchase licences for the different components.

This datasheet does a good job of explaining the different servers and when Windows Server, System Center and SQL Enterprise licences are required.

Find it here: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.

Dynamics AX Licensing Updates

Changes to Dynamics AX licensing: the May 2016 Licensing Guide confirms that a Standard Acceptance Testing Instance is now provided for the life of the tenant, rather than just three months – see page 9.

There are also details of exactly what Power BI licences will be included with Platform Update 1: the Enterprise SL will include a Power BI Pro licence, and all SLs will include the Power BI Embedded licence which means that all users will be able to access the Power BI reports embedded within the Dynamics AX application – also page 9.

Find the updated guide here: http://bit.ly/1WSj4jt.